Anyone taking a while to finish too?

Each person has a different level of need of finishing WK. Some might need it because they live in Japan, some because they want to read novels one day, others might do it just for fun. In each case, the level of commitment should be dictated by the current need for Japanese learning, not by some synthetic need of finishing the levels ASAP. If you force it too much, it might even backfire spectacularly by growing a hatred for the app / Japanese in general.

It’s kind of like matching a car’s gears to one’s speed. The optimal acceleration happens when the speed and the gears match. Too low or too high, and either you waste fuel, or your engine dies.

It’s best to examine what your level of commitment is, and pick a speed that suits that. That’s your optimum. And don’t feel bad if it’s slow! After all, more effort would have diminishing returns (or even make you quit), and less would waste potential.

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I see team Snails is here already. I’m here to represent team Durtles!
We are taking it slow, durtleing the scenic route :durtle_the_explorer:
It’s a group for those who purposefully go slower to enjoy the process instead.

I am a low level as I only just got a subscription. But I have been here two years or so, watching speed deamons come and go, many of them crashing. So my plan is to NOT make it in a year. 2 is better, or even 3! Slow and steady.

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I started wanikani getting motivated by someone who did it in a year and I’m on year 4 and still haven’t finished. :sweat_smile: I had months of breaks at times and just generally low motivation.

Back to daily reviews now and hoping I can finish it this year or early next year! I just got the lifetime subscription at the last sale though so not pressuring or being hard on myself if I happen to not finish as quickly. I’ve realized after all this time that the slow and steady way is better for me. Now I take time to do the lessons (about 20 a day or so) and really try to commit them to memory rather than doing it all at once. I feel like I’m forgetting the ones I breezed through earlier on! :sweat_smile:

Also reminding myself that my original motivation for learning kanji is to really learn and be able to read better. So I can take my time and not feel like I’m in race!

Let’s go team turtle! :joy:

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BlockquoteI really regret not being consistent when I was younger

ah yeah tell me about it

Blockquote now that I’m in my busiest years of high school

BAHHHAHAHAH…oh friendo you’re doing just fine. Keep at it.

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let’s see how I will do, I am still on Level 1.

i’m really glad that the snails and durtles posts are around, as well as posts like this recent level 60 post by nightsquid: Level 60 May 2020

they show that you don’t have to go fast, and that it’s fine to go at your own pace :slight_smile:

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Don’t give the fast runners bad rep :stuck_out_tongue: I slept a solid 8h a day when I was going through the levels, that’s part of the formula to succeed :slight_smile:


It’s okay to take years to finish, because we can always start over and give it a fresh start :slight_smile: I was a beast with grammar for 6 months (N4+ level), and then I took a 2 years’ break. My gf @FlamySerpent on the other hand reached N1 grammar level in 1 year and half. She’s a beast, so that inspires me to kick myself into grammar again :sunglasses:

Consistency + time is the best formula guys. Don’t try to do too much in one day. Bill Gates once said that we overestimate what we can do in 1 day and we underestimate what we can do in 1 year.

10 lessons a day should keep most people with less than 1h of usage. If you’re able to focus when doing WK, it should take around 30 minutes a day. That makes you reach level 60 in 2 years, which is significantly faster than any beginner of Japanese could dream of achieving <3

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Haha, 僕も (although, unlike me, I think you did finish in under a year).

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High school… younger years… :smiley:

I have been trying to learn Japanese properly for 20 years, so if it takes you 4-5 years total to get through WK, you are still better off than I am! :smiley:

That said, I plan to be done this year, probably around 400 days total because I found something that works (WK) and I know if I stop for even a day, it will become 2, then 3, etc. I know myself and my crappy habits by now…

I wish you luck in your goal, and if it takes extra time just realize you are learning and you haven’t given up.

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Yeah, I was thinking the same thing too. Now, I’m not no genius, but I thought I would get this done faster than the average person. BuT I think I it’s been exactly a year since I first started and I’m still only on level 24. I thought I would hit level 60 in about a year and two months or something, but it doesn’t seem that way :confused: I do hear that some of the later levels go faster though? so don’t lose hope! 頑張って!

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Some levels you can go faster on, but it’s a lot of work from what I hear.

Someone who has done the fast levels can correct me if I’m wrong, but in order to level up you need 90% of new kanji Guru’d. As far as I know, the “fast” levels are just ones that have 10% or less of the new kanji locked behind new radicals. So you do unlock enough kanji to theoretically level up right from the get go, however, I don’t believe the overall workload of the fast levels (radicals + kanji + vocab) is much lower than other levels.

So for fast levels the only thing that really changes is the shortest possible time it could take to level up, but if you level up faster you’ll probably either have more vocabulary lessons buildup or a lot more apprentice and guru items, so a lot more reviews

yeah, the fast levels have a similar number of kanji and vocab then the slow levels, but very few or no radicals. so you can level up in half the time, but it’s still the same amount of work. if you’re already taking it slower, the fast levels won’t make you go (much) faster

I’ve not been a super, super long time, but I’m sitting at 24 after just over two years.

I didn’t know that learning kanjis was a contest. I thought that we were all here to learn japanese, and so I do. I eat my daily chunks of 100 reviews and 5 lessons by day. I take a full month on each level. Now by level ten I feel that I need more grammar but not more kanjis. Even with furigana attached I can’t understand a sentence on a graded book. I get some words, but not the full sentence.
Speeding up the kanjis doesn’t appeal to me. If I have to put more time somewhere it will be in grammar for sure.

So bad, wanikani doesn’t teach grammar … but it seems that bunpro is quite good at that, and satori reader is great at giving texts that you can read in japanese, listen to and even see the translation when needed. Both of them support sincronization with your actual wanikani level and hide furigana for kanjis that you already now.

My advice is that you need maybe to go slow with the kanjis and focus on other things that will make you truly fluent, beyond the kanjis.

Wathever you decide, best wishes on your path to japanese laguage :slight_smile:

I’m just back after a year off lol. Something to do innit!

As someone here said: WaniKani is not a sprint, it’s a marathon.
Just hang on and you’ll be rewarded with enlightenment.

Tried to speedrun in the beginning, but that backfired quickly, because my memory didn’t play along, so I take my 14 to 20 days per level.

頑張ってね

I saw a thread where someone finally reached level 60 after several years. Don’t worry too much about the speed, just do it when you can and try to be consistent!

Been here since 2013 and reset a few times. I think I’m finally at a point where I can finish. What matters in the end is what you personally get out of it.

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Aye

Although for me it’s going to take just over two years since I didn’t figure out a good pace until a year ago.

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